Woodbridge Festival Launches Appeal to Find Geno Washington's Lost Suffolk Band.

Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music is appealing for help to find a forgotten Woodbridge band that played with British Soul legend Geno Washington in 1965.

Geno Washington, the founding father of Brit Soul music, was based in RAF Woodbridge in the 1960s when he first started singing. After leaving the US Airforce, Geno went on to have a six decade long music career, topping the album charts and outshining acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Pink Floyd. This summer he returns to Woodbridge to perform for the first time since 1965, in his words bringing it back full circle - and bringing Brit Soul music home to Woodbridge.

"It's been a long time since I've been to Woodbridge," says Geno, speaking with Woodbridge Festival founder DJ Ben Osborne. "But I love the place. It will always be in my memory. That is something - to be back playing in woodbridge after 60 years!"

While talking with Ben, Geno recalled playing a one-off gig with a band that was based in Woodbridge in 1965. The gig happened before Geno left Suffolk for London to join the Ram Jam Band. He went on to become one of the biggest UK Soul stars of the 1960s and 70s - as well as being celebrated in Dexy's Midnight Runners hit 'Geno' in the 1980s.

While living in Suffolk Geno had been playing with Les Blues, an Ipswich-based group. But, during his demobbing from the US Forces, he split from the band because "they didn't want the bother of going professional."

This left Geno with a dilemma: "I told the guy promoting the (next) gig I couldn't do it because the band had broke up. The guy said: 'If you don't do the gig I'm going to phone your commander and get you in trouble'. So I said I would try to do something.

"I'd heard about this group from Woodbridge and they was very popular. And I went and talked to them and goddam we done the show together! We only done that one show, but it was great! But I can't remember their name because it was so many years ago ago! But they were very good".

On hearing this Ben suggested Woodbridge Festival could help search for Gino's lost Woodbridge band and Geno replied: "Yeah, Yeah! They were nice guys."

Woodbridge Festival is appealing to anyone that might remember the band, or went to the gig to see Geno play with them in 1965. The Festival is asking anyone with information to email woodbridgefestivalsuffolk@gmail.com

Geno Washington is appearing at Woodbridge Festival on Saturday 30 August as part of Super Fly, the first project to explore the influence Suffolk's US Air Force Bases had in bringing American black music into Britain.

Ben Osborne, Super Fly's creator, says:"It would be great to find out who the Woodbridge group were and celebrate this lost local history. Who knows, we might be able to track them down. They